Twas the week before National Homebrew Day and all through the house, Everyone was drinking beer, even the mouse.
The kettle and keg had been sanitized and prepared with care, And Jerry went to Menard’s because he sometimes worked there.
Courtney, Paul, and Jeff were sharpening their skills at Sheephead, Reciting to themselves: “round over point, black over red.”
The pastors, writing their sermons, they had just begun, As Dave was finishing his fifty mile run.
Jay was busy working on his homebrew rap, While Lincoln settled in for his afternoon nap.
After mowing, I had lazily in the sun just basked when I suddenly remembered – there were unanswered questions that had been frequently asked!
So many questions in my head they did ring -“What will we brew?” “What should I bring?”
“When does it start – what second, minute and hour?” “Am I always supposed to sacrifice points before power?”
I rushed to my laptop, my fingers – they did fly. As I tried to answer Who? What? When? Where? and Why?
The list of questions was exhaustive so thorough I tried to be, Until the last question was answered finally.
And so dear friends, and Jerry too, Here is the much anticipated FAQ.
Poetry from Mark set the stage for the festivities to be held at his place for the AHA’s “Big Brew for National Homebrew Day” on May 01. Mark is known for his informative and entertaining FAQs from prior events and delivered once again for this event. If you want to know what the FAQs were, you will need to encourage him to get his own site. Being quite savvy with his technological abilities, I’m sure he can slap together “All Questions Frequently Asked” in no time. He is the inspiration for the FAQ section on this site.
It is now a week after the brew day so I better get posting before next year’s event comes around.
This event is to commemorate the impressive act of Congress to declare May 07, 1988 as the first National Homebrew Day. (Or something like that.) It is my understanding that this floating holiday is celebrated on the first Saturday of May – to the consternation of some in this group who felt that not brewing on the actual day – May 07 – was in violation or even unlawful. Goodness. I equate this to the MLK Day of home brewing – its not always celebrated on the actual day. Or how about Easter. That day hasn’t been nailed down for centuries and yet no one objects to it. This just gives insight to the company I sometimes keep. The pint glass of goodwill was extended just to be slapped away on some imagined objection.
Anyway, Saturday arrived bringing plenty of sunshine and very warm temps – in the 80s. The “Dorothy Doors” were open, the grill was fired up and heaped with Danny’s Meat products for the Blauertkraut, and the Zombie Dirt and Maibock were tapped. Not good enough for some. So…. nice weather (sun / 80s), great eats (Blauertkraut is amazing), homebrewed beer (free), fantastic fellowship (interesting and entertaining personalities) and Sheephead (aka Sheepshead) couldn’t draw some in.
Excuses: I need to plant some grass and trees at the campground. I have prom dad responsibilities. I don’t know how to play Sheephead. What? Are you kidding me? This is Blauertkraut, Beer and Sheephead we are talking about here – on National Homebrew Day! Serious lack of priorities and dedication. What a bunch of Nancys!
Of these excuses, I need to comment on this one: There were two individuals invited who had, as the one put it: “prom dad responsibilities.” The one actually thought prom dad responsibilities to be real and did not show.The other individual wisely indicated that if in fact they do exist, they are as follows: Prom dad responsibilities include making yourself very scarce around the house, or better yet, getting yourself out of the house completely and finding something creative to do – like brewing beer, playing cards, enjoying good company and great food. It was great to see you again Paul. Thanks for bringing Pastor L. (You have to get him on SNB.)
Another oddity of the day was the card playing. Somehow Sheephead got replaced with Euchre. I must have been tending the kettle when this amendment was passed. Euchre? You mean Bob? How does one play “points before power” in Euchre? Is Bower a mispronunciation of Mauer? How do you use nickels when keeping score on two 5s? Where is the fun in that? Where are the leasters? Can you play two handed Euchre? Goodness. Who was responsible for this faux pas? It was good to see you Pastor R. Thanks for stopping by.
All kidding aside, it was a great day for fun, fellowship and brewing. Speaking of which, we brewed one of the “official” Big Brew Day recipes: Star Gazer Double IPA.
| From the American Homebrew Association website: |
| “This hazy double IPA was formulated to showcase the tropical and juicy aromas from BSG Hops’ Zamba blend and the minty and green-apple aroma notes from German Polaris hops. The grist is typical for the style, with a little boost from sucrose to increase wort gravity without adding non-fermentables or additional malt flavor. The hopping schedule and yeast strain are intended to set the stage for aroma retention and biotransformation while keeping hop bitterness in check.” |
The all grain version was selected for this special occasion. Between Mark’s meat hors d’oeuvre, card playing and homebrew sampling we managed to not mess it up (I think). It has been in the fermentor for a week now and is ready for the fermentor dry hopping. The recipe is being tweaked a bit in that some of the fermentor hops are going into the keg at packaging. This is what is done with the Zombie Dirt brews and the results are very favorable. We are eager to see how this one turns out.
By the way, the Maibock that was tapped was the Spring Break garage brew and the Zombie Dirt was brewed before the Maibock. Both beers turned out great. The Maibock was not fully carbonated – as is usually the case with beers that are relatively new. The full kegs have very little head space for CO2 and so are on the flat side initially. Either a few pints need to be pulled to increase the head space or perhaps some priming sugar needs to be added. This will need some experimentation.
Perhaps the slogan of Fieldpointe Brewing should emphasize this somehow. “Carbonated beer? Everyone is doing that. We are different – Low Carb beer – Not quite what you think.” Or maybe not.
Anyway, here is the Star Gazer Double IPA magical formula with minor adjustments:
Malts
- 6.5 lb. Rahr North Star Pils ™ Malt
- 3.25 lb. Rahr Red Wheat Malt
- 1.5 lb. Flaked Oats
- 6 oz. Weyermann® Acidulated Malt
Adjunct
- 1 lb. Sucrose @ 15 min
Hops
- 1 oz. Polaris, 20% a.a. @ 60 min
- 1 oz. Zamba™, 10% a.a. @ 60 min
- 1 oz. Polaris, 20% a.a., whirlpool
- 1 oz. Zamba™, 10% a.a., whirlpool
- 2 oz. Polaris, 20% a.a., dry hop – fermentor
- 2 oz. Zamba™, 10% a.a., dry hop – fermentor
- 1 oz. Polaris, 20% a.a., dry hop – keg
- 1 oz. Zamba™, 10% a.a., dry hop – keg
Yeast
- Fermentis SafAle K-97
Thanks for stopping by and Happy National Homebrew Day!